John in SJ / asjamias: no, my comment that it does not cost Comcast (in this specific location) $3 extra every year to deliver the same level of service, is fundamentally correct. The infrastructure upgrades in this area were done long ago and haven't been upgraded again since. At that time the bill went up maybe $4 or $5 a month I think, and I understood the reasoning for that and did not complain about it.

In fact as they pay off all those facility costs (maintaining the same number of employees in the area basically), their overall costs likely go down a little bit for delivering service to existing areas where no further digging / installing / etc needs to be done. At worst it's probably a wash. Cost of wages rise VERY slightly for customer service people and the like (in fact avg worker wages have barely kept pace with inflation the last 20 years - look it up), while the cost of the facilities go down over time.

No one here addresses the core concern though, because you can't do so without using rationalizations like "it's just business" and "it's not illegal" and "you should just accept it and leave". I never said it was illegal or that other businesses don't have similar practices of annually boosting fees without some type of regular, incremental improvement to the service. I said it is unethical, and it is.

Dr Drew: why do you ask? The modem is DocSis 3. As stated multiple times, I AM getting the amount of bandwidth allocated by the plan. This is not a connectivity issue or a "I'm getting half of what they said I would get" issue. The upgrades I'm talking about are hypothetical / related to what Comcast is doing in Verizon markets. And no, now that Verizon has mysteriously abandoned one of the largest markets in the country, Comcast has no reason to do anything but continue screwing people who readily accept it as "normal".

I will be leaving sometime this spring, once I have more time to look into the options. I even thought about paying the $150/month or whatever it is to get their business speeds but let's be real... the same people will be answering the phones and chat lines. We're all just numbers, not people.

Hortnut: You may well be right about people in different regions getting different quality service. That seems to be the case (that the west coast customers claim a better experience), and it makes sense given there is more access to broadband providers out there / more choice. Comcast has to play ball and bill people ethically, not bait and switch on credits, etc. (Another thing no one has addressed because there is no excusing it...)

I'm glad you guys are happy (truly) with your level of service. I wish someone from Comcast had made an effort to value me as much as they evidently value you.

BTW I didn't realize there was a dedicated rants forum. I just categorized the message as rant so it would go to the right place, etc. If there's one place for rants and messages categorized as such aren't placed there that's on DSLRR. But sorry if the placement is confusing. As for Google people, not sure what you mean. Either someone comes in here and reads the OP and tries to comprehend or they don't, instead skimming around and trying to offer solutions based on partial information about the problem.

John in SJ / asjamias: The infrastructure upgrades in this area were done long ago and haven't been upgraded again since. At that time the bill went up maybe $4 or $5 a month I think, and I understood the reasoning for that and did not complain about it.

In fact as they pay off all those facility costs (maintaining the same number of employees in the area basically), their overall costs likely go down a little bit for delivering service to existing areas where no further digging / installing / etc needs to be done. At worst it's probably a wash. Cost of wages rise VERY slightly for customer service people and the like (in fact avg worker wages have barely kept pace with inflation the last 20 years - look it up), while the cost of the facilities go down over time.

how do you know that the infrastructure hasnt been upgraded since? 11 years ago, there wasn't any Docsis 3.0.

you can never pay off facility costs as it needs maintenance done by qualified people or engineers that needs to get paid to be able to deliver the service you are subscribing to...

and just like what we do in manufacturing, we maintain machines to be able to keep it running and making parts, re-tooling them, upgrading etc. to be able to meet the demand for current and newer parts and that's not even including the engineers, electricians, machinists etc. that we need to pay to run those machines...

you run a small business, you should know that...not unless you dont run a business that doesnt run on any machines at all.

you're getting the speed that you are paying for. all your gripe is about fees which is the cost to run their business. if you don't like it, you can jump ship anytime.

what you think is unethical won't be able to pay or feed a family just like yours.

The infrastructure upgrades in this area were done long ago and haven't been upgraded again since. At that time the bill went up maybe $4 or $5 a month I think, and I understood the reasoning for that and did not complain about it.

Maybe the outside cables and amps haven't been replaced in awhile...

At the very least the CMTS has been upgraded relatively recently to DOCSIS 3... not to mention the routers upstream of it and interconnects between them. In 11 years, it's probably 4-5 generations of gear that have been installed and replaced in the local headend and network.

With DOCSIS 3 comes increased maintenance requirements to keep those multiple channels clean and usable... but that's another topic.

Your first post here says "Internet-Only (I am at the Performance 20-25 Mbps tier AFAICT -- no part of this involves a service level change), been a customer for a little more than 11 years now I think". AFAICT means "as far as I can tell". I take that to mean you're not sure what tier you have. Performance tier can be 20 mpbs down / 4 mpbs some reports of 24down/4up depending on the area, but the the tier should really be listed on your bill or account. The tier you're receiving shouldn't be a "AFAICT" issue.

John in SJ / asjamias: no, my comment that it does not cost Comcast (in this specific location) $3 extra every year to deliver the same level of service, is fundamentally correct. The infrastructure upgrades in this area were done long ago and haven't been upgraded again since. At that time the bill went up maybe $4 or $5 a month I think, and I understood the reasoning for that and did not complain about it.

Inflation alone, let alone increases in energy costs, increases in human expenses, and maintenance of existing infrastructure will drive the cost to comcast up to deliver the exact same service to you year over year.

Hortnut: You may well be right about people in different regions getting different quality service. That seems to be the case (that the west coast customers claim a better experience), and it makes sense given there is more access to broadband providers out there / more choice. Comcast has to play ball and bill people ethically, not bait and switch on credits, etc. (Another thing no one has addressed because there is no excusing it...)

As for Google people, not sure what you mean. Either someone comes in here and reads the OP and tries to comprehend or they don't, instead skimming around and trying to offer solutions based on partial information about the problem.

I think I am seeing where the problem begins - many assumptions on your part.

There are not a lot of choices where I am. Lines down my street: there is Comcast and DSL through CenturyLink for me and most folks here. On the DSL, there may be other ISP's, but they run over CL's lines. I understand that is true in many areas throughout the country. [at turn of century did tech support for uswest for a couple of years, started when only 'live' city was Phoenix].

Do not understand the repetitive comments on bait and switch. Has never happened to me, nor have I read any comments from anyone else over the years complain about it here.

Sometimes the first bill is confusing with all the credits and billing into the next billing cycle. Or the same happens when service levels are changed with adds/deletions. Especially in the middle of a billing cycle. I just added services and the last bill, took a bit of studying to determine if all was correct. A little work on my part and my responsibility.

As to your OP, I have read it several times and just do not get it.

BTW - I do not work for Comcast, never have.

I have my own Business that has suffered through this recession. I produce a product that requires raw materials, and increases in oil prices has wreaked havoc, while there exists pressure to keep the sale price of my product at a certain level. So I do understand market processes and the ying and yang of things.